August 18: The stormHurricane Andrew touched the lives of thousands of people in South Florida. A tiny cul-de-sac is a microcosm of the storm's impact.

InsuranceThe biggest natural disaster in U.S. history touched every homeowner in Florida when insurance companies scrambled to cover losses. Ten 10 years later, the effects can still be felt.

August 19: BuildingAndrew did more than devastate South Florida: It exposed dangerous shortcomings in construction and inspection. It took 10 years, but a new statewide building code is finally in place. Some builders, however, say they already have put Andrew's lessons to work.

August 20:Whatever happened to...Kate Hale, who with 10 words -- "Where in the hell is the cavalry on this one?'' -- became an instant folk hero and prompted a complete revamping of the federal government's emergency management agency. Find out what Hale has been up to since then.

And how about the others? The TV weatherman who reassured shaky South Florida? And the shotgun-toting homeowner seen around the country? And Homestead Air Force Base?

August 24: The 1921 StormTampa Bay hasn't been hit by a hurricane for 81 years. The 1921 unnamed hurricane caused millions of dollars of damage, but what would happen today if a similar storm hit the bay area?

On Aug. 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew slammed into South Florida, devastating Homestead, Florida City and parts of Miami, then continued northwest across the Gulf of Mexico to strike theLouisiana coastline.

[Times photo: Jim Stem 1992]Aerial of a mobile home community in the Homestead area, destroyed by Hurricane Andrew.

In all, the storm caused 15 deaths directly, 25 deaths indirectly and $30-billion in property damage, making it the costliest disaster in U.S history.

Hurricane Andrew off the coast of Florida. To see a time series movie by Nathan Gasser of NASA, click here.

More than 250,000 people were left homeless; 82,000 businesses were destroyed or damaged; about 100,000 residents of south Dade County permanently left the area in Andrew's wake. Andrew also had a severe impact on the environment -- it damaged 33 percent of the coral reefs at Biscayne National Park, and 90 percent of South Dade's native pinelands, mangroves and tropical hardwood hammocks. It also created 30 years worth of debris.